silotwo

Love the student driver thing: While returning from bringing my son some furniture it suddenly starts to down pour, I am not at all familiar with the road, I am driving my 1988 Ford Van that I had since new but is affectionately referred to as the junk truck. Visibility is really poor but I can see the traffic light is green in front of me until all of a sudden a see an old mini van with a young girl in the back, notbrake lights but the thing is stopped dead. I instintively do all I can do to avoid a square rear end collission, I see this girl looking out the back window of the mini van and I am totally panic stricken, BUT somehow I stop and just kiss the rear bumper of the mini van in front of me. As I am leaning over my steering wheel to confirm that there is zero damage and feel a huge relief - BAM - I get hit from behind and in my sideview mirror I see the entire front fascia of the car behind me laying in the road. The rain lightens up, I step out of my van and almost fall because the roadway is like ice. The woman who hit me is stumbling out of her car, both air bags deployed and windshield near shattered.

In my mind I am trying to figure out all kinds of stuff, why was the mini van stopped at a green light? Why no brake lights? How did I manage to bring the junk truck to a stop on the same roadway where the woman in the late model could not or did not?

When the police arrive the driver of the mini van, a young kid, and his father approach me. The father thanks me for not damaging the mini-van, explains to the cop that it is his son's first day driving and he thought it would be a great experience to let him drive in the rain! The kid says he knew the light was green and he took his foot of the brake, but he was afraid to use the gas in the rain. He tells the cop he felt my bumper "touch" his bumper but he thought I was just an aggressive driver wanting him to get going!

The womand admits she saw my van - it is huge you can't miss the thing - she saw my brakelights, she saw veering left - but she just couldn't stop.

The topper was the cop - he is absolutely calm and says "oh yeah, really bad surface here, I am called out here at least a half dozen times when it rains" My head was spinning hearing all of this and knowing that my van is so old any insurance claim will total it and my step bumper is suddenly no longer a step at all.

As for the 996? As I am on the phone venting to my wife about this and how unbelievable that a Father would swap drivers with his kid IN THE RAIN, how I managed to stop but the woman couldn't and hit me so hard, and the cop with the "oh yeah" attitude - she stops me and tells me to think about it. The van is the oldest of all our vehichles, it is THE junk truck. No one was hurt, I didn't receive a ticket, I didn't harm the other vehichle - and as I am sighing deeply wanting to tell her to just STFU - she says "and oh, your Porsche is in the garage right"?

That's all it took - Pcar safe - it is not such a bad day afterall.

ivangene

we have seen some strange things...this week a gal got out of her car on the freeway to try and help some baby ducks, caused a 4 hours traffic jams after several vehicles crashed and killed 2 of the ducks?

and one of my peeves is that people's cars die and they just stop in the middle of the road....most times a cars wheels will still roll even if the motor explodes or what have you...roll it off the side...many times they stop on hills and get out to evaluate the car while causing serious dangers to themselfs and others. A tragic case a short time ago was some kids late at night, car "broke down" forget if it was a tire or what, but they stopped on the interstate at 1 am and got out of the car, stood behind it...well a guy plowed into them killing at least one (forgot because its been a story I dont like)
now the guy who plowed into them was legally drunk and they are hanging him out to dry..he is in deep crap, prison ect...I know alcohol was involved but as of yet no one has said how stupid these poor boys were that stood on the freeway at 1 am contemplating their cars problem...traggic..I tell my kids all the time... your car WILL ROLL..roll it out of the road as far as you can and always think someone is going to smash into it at any moment...yes someone in this case was legally drunk but it could have just as easlily been anyone..litterally anyone who drives a car....a momentary lapse of concentration and people standing in front of you as you hurl down the roadway.....

for over 2 years I was the "human target" in the PCADS accident avoidence excersises....I have seen reactions of drivers that would make your eyes pop out, and I have seen some that would make something else pop out...there is no substitute for training for these things and the state drivers licence testing is a ridiculous joke of a skills test....



was that a little random?

silotwo

Fairly late in life I started dirt biking with my son, that led me to wanting a street bike so I took the state motorcycle safety training and received my motorcycle license. That training was perhaps the best thing I ever did as it has made me an even more aware driver. Simply paying attention and being aware of everything going on around me has saved me from a few potential accidents. I preach to my kids all of the time to assume that drivers around them are going to make a mistake. Not everyone stops at stops signs or red lights, people do change lanes with out thinking, few people take your turn signal as a clue to allow you to change lanes, and many people don't turn when their signal is on.

It drives me insane when I check my rear view mirror and see someone looking down at their phone or putting on make up. The other day a driver behind me in traffic had me really worried because she had some kind of ice cream drink or something and not only was she tipping her head back to get the last of it, she was actually taking her hand off of the wheel to tap the bottom of the cup! I often exit the interstate or pull over on the street to let a car behind me simply go around, that's how nervous I get about someone running into me for lack of paying attention. (Probably also has something to do with getting rear ended by a commercial truck and my car being totalled many years ago) It was one of those times that I saw it coming and couldn't do a thing to avoid it.

One thing I appreciate about the Pcar - similar to the bike - we have some acceleration and braking advantages to help us out when we need it. And sometimes to enjoy even when we don't need it.

jpowers

I didn't get that close did I??

ivangene

Haha no, I actually have never had a "close call" but when handing over the torch Igor had one really damn scary

Jacks911

My "Today" story is about meeting a future Porsche owner... maybe 20 to 30 years from now!
I volunteered to help with Vacation Bible School at church - and as I am leaving walking to my C4 parked at the end of the row of Soccer Mom SUVs ... just ahead is a mom and three kids in tow.

One of them, a young lady about 3 feet tall, stops in front of the C4 and points at at the hood badge and says, "It's a Porsche Car mom!". Well as I got closer I said, "do you like Porsches" to this little gal. She turned and looked at me - then at mom without saying a word. Mom replied to me and said yes she does. I said would you like to see inside... she looked at mom - mom said "go ahead Sara take a look". I opened the door for her and she looked inside for a minute. As she did I knelt next to her and asked "would you like to own one some day?" He reply was priceless - a quick nod of the head and a precious smile of a 6 year old - then she walk over to mom, looked back at the Carrera, and climbed into the SUV.

909punk

Many many years ago I picked up a 944. On my way home from West LA, I took Laurel Canyon back to Studio City. It just rained and I was feeling no worries but, my buddy that took me in his old Camery was trying to keep up. HAHA.

I saw him to a 360 just after Mulholland

wyovino

Just happened.

I parked my car in a CVS lot. There are about 25 empty spaces in a row. I choose space number 5 which is on the far end, away from the entrance. As I'm walking away, a 20-ish, 85 pound woman driving an 8,000 lb SUV/Urban Assault Vehicle pulls into space number 6, about 12 inches from my car. I run back between the cars and put up my hand.

Me - "Don't open the door, you're too close. I'll move mine.
Her - "What are you worried about?"
Me. "Just wait a second while I move my car"
Her - "F*ck you, old man!"
Me - "Just wait!"

(I start backing out)

Her - "Enjoy your midlife crisis, fat-***!"
Me - "Don't forget your Maxi-pads, you f*cking bitch!"

Just another day in my life.

Marc Gelefsky

People never fail to disappoint me.

wyovino

So many stupid people, so few asteroids.

silotwo

Another example why it is sad that we can't administer permanent solutions to temporary problems. Maybe its CVS - after picking up a Sunday paper I am walking back to the Porsche and suddenly some nut in a running piece of junk hollers "Oh, of course he can walk slow HE drives a Porsche (or maybe she said porch) and then speeds off so close to me, not my car, that I thought she was going to hit me.

So I prayed for her in a not very good way.

Sultan

sorry, but that is f'n hilarious....

wyovino

For similar reasons, I feel that I should be allowed to carry torpedoes on my boat. I promise I would use them judiciously (but quite often).

ivangene

OMG Bill - sorry about that happening but agree dayam funny!

Glad she wasn't interested in helping you seal the deal on the mid-life

bkjwhipple

Makes me so happy to live in seattle. I lived in jersey before here. Stories like that happen daily there... Extreemly rare here. Ahhhhhhhh